In a letter to the budget committee of the Bundestag, the Federal Court of Auditors strongly criticized the debt plans of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). The sticking point: Lindner wants to finance the relief package, which includes 200 billion euros and is intended to relieve consumers and companies with regard to energy prices, via a special fund – and thus bypass the budget. In this way, the Finance Minister wants to comply with the debt brake, which is also anchored in the Basic Law.
But the auditors from the Federal Audit Office complain in the letter available to the German Press Agency that another special fund would increase the already existing opacity of the federal budget. Worse still: Lindner’s financing plan is not compatible with the Basic Law. “The envisaged ‘reserve’ borrowing violates the constitutional principle of annuality,” the letter reads.
In just 5 minutes to sustainable banking
This rule, laid down in the Basic Law, states that the budget is drawn up for one year – loans taken out are intended to compensate for a budget deficit in the same year. However, until 2024, expenses for a gas price brake, for company aid and other measures are to be raised from the special fund.
In its report, the Court of Auditors advocates financing the protective shield directly from the normal federal budget.
The German construction company Wolff Hoch- und Ingenieurbau has to file for bankruptcy 125 years after it was founded. This is due to staff and material shortages.
As a result of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) has already resigned. The CDU is also demanding political consequences for Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD). She texted the former interior minister during the death tide. Twelve of those messages have now been released.
In the trial of the fatal shots at two police officers near Kusel in the Palatinate, the co-defendant answered questions from the court about the night of the crime at the end of January for the first time. The main defendant, however, presented a whole series of alleged lies.